Month: August 2014

A new sound from Edge Effect — an eclectic hybrid sound, in fact, not unlike a Tower of Power laced with rock, R&B, jazz and some funkin’ soul.

This group has ties to Ocala; tenor Sean Gerrity grew up in Ocala and went to perform with the vocal group Mosaic. Gerrity, along with fellow Mosaics John Gibson and Troy Dolendo, moved to Orlando “seeking more artistic expression and fulfillment,” Gerrity said.

They teamed up with Danny Alan, Solomon Jaye and Karl Hudson.

“We reached out to these other really great performers and strived to merge our a cappella roots with a band,” Gerrity wrote in an email. “We just didn’t know how we were going to do it, exactly.”

That’s when they met Jamey Tate, he added. The producer and drummer introduced drums, keyboard and guitar into their mix, and this new sound resulted.

On Sunday night, Edge Effect released its new “Alphabet Radio” CD with a party at the Satellite Center in Orlando.

The instruments are evident, and sometimes take over, but tight a cappella harmonies remain key throughout “Alphabet Radio.” A double helpin’ of ’70s dance funk in “All Night” and “Get on Down” kicks off the CD, with the smooth-as-aged-bourbon R&B in “Biggest Fan” as a chaser.

“The entire album is original and from the heart,” Gerrity noted. “There isn’t a shred of auto-tune on it. We recorded like they used to back in the 1960s and ’70s: six guys around two microphones in a studio room singing their hearts out.”